James Dashner Chicken House ISBN: 9781910655160 RRP: $18.99 Published: 1st October, 2016 Reviewed by Debbie Berger The Fever Code is the prequel to the best seller Mazer Runner series. If you want to know about the missing pieces of this trilogy such how the maze was built, the back stories of Thomas, Teresa and the other gladers then this book is for you. To quote Barry … Continue reading The fever code
Ben Holden Simon & Schuster ISBN: 9781471153754 RRP: $35.00 Ebook ISBN: 989147153785 RRP $12.99 Published 1st October, 2016 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Why should children only get bedtime stories at the end of their day? This delightful bedside book provides an option for the adult who loved the ritual of a bedtime story when they were younger. There is a great selection in this anthology … Continue reading Bedtime stories for grown-ups
Peter Stefanovic Hachette Australia ISBN 9780733635687 Published August, 2016 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Peter Stefanovic spent the last 10 years as a foreign correspondent for Channel 9 in Europe, North Africa and America. He has witnessed more death and devastation than most of us could imagine. Hack in a Flak Jacket is told from the front line of some of the world’s most terrible … Continue reading Hack in a Flak Jacket
Stan Grant Harper Collins ISBN: 9781460751978 Published: January, 2016 RRP: $29.99 I learned so much about Australia’s Indigenous history reading Talking to My Country. Lots of it shocking and heartbreaking. Stan Grant tells a powerful and personal story of what it feels to be an indigenous person in Australia. He does not offer solutions to the complex problems of indigenous Australians but does a great job … Continue reading Talking to my country
Jackie French Bruce Whatley Scholastic Press ISBN: 9781743623596 RRP: $24.99 – Hardback Publication date: February, 2016 Reviewed by Debbie Berger A beautifully illustrated picture book that tells the story of the devastating tropical cyclone that hit the city of Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people. Cyclone Tracy is imprinted into the minds of Australian’s who were alive during the Christmas of 1974. This book … Continue reading Cyclone
Scholastic Australia Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch ISBN: 9781760157234 Published: August, 2015 RRP: $14.99 Making bombs for Hitler centres on Lida and her younger sister who are separated when they are caught by the Nazis. The strength of their characters and the struggle to survive and help each other is truly remarkable. These brave young children have seen so many horrors find the courage to go on … Continue reading Making bombs for Hitler
Kathryn Lomer University Press QLD ISBN 978070225369 Published: August, 2015 RRP: $19.95 Talk Under Water tells the story two teens, Will and Summer, who meet online on a Jessica Watson social media page. They share a love of sailing, an admiration of Jessica Watson and a connection to the same small town in Tasmania. Written in dual point of view, it is mostly presented in … Continue reading Talk under water
Brian Selzniak Schoalstic Inc ISBN: 9780545448680 RRP: $34.99 Published: October, 2015 Reviewer: Nicola Cain They say, a picture really does paint a thousand words, and this book proves it. Brian Selzniak’s The Marvels tells two stories in one. The first is story of Billy Marvel. He survives a ship wreck and then finds work in a theatre. As time goes on, the Marvel family blossoms … Continue reading The marvels
Stan Lee and Peter David Illustrator: Coleen Doran ISBN: 9781501107726 $45.00 Publication Date: November 3rd, 2015 Amazing Fantastic Incredible is a beautifully illustrated graphic memoir that tells the story of Stan Lee, perhaps the most famous creator of comic book heroes. He is responsible for bringing the world the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the Amazing Spider Man, the X-Men and many more superheroes. This memoir … Continue reading Amazing Fantastic Incredible
Brandon Robshaw Chicken House ISBN: 9781908435897 RRP: $15.99 Published: July, 2015 Reviewed by Megan Stuart What would you do if you were given a million wishes? Well in “The Big Wish” by Brandon Robshaw we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of eleven year old Sam as he finds that a million wishes don’t always lead to an easy life. The old saying “be careful what … Continue reading The big wish
Leah Thomas Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781408862629 RRP: $15.99 Published: July, 2015 Reviewed by Nicola Cain Oliver is allergic to electricity. He is housebound and considered a hermit, and in a strange twist of fate he finds himself befriending Moritz, a German boy. Moritz has an electric pacemaker and was born without eyes and is also a social misfit. They soon become best friends, writing letters to each other as their only way of communicating. And … Continue reading
Jack Heath Scholastic Australia ISBN: 9781760154035 RRP: $9.99 Publication date: September, 2015 Reviewed by Debbie Berger 300 Minutes of Danger is a clever concept by Australian author Jack Heath. This book has 10 short stories; each estimated to take about 30 minutes of reading time; each full of suspense and action; and each uniquely different from the next. There is a countdown starting at 30 minutes … Continue reading 300 minutes of danger
Jimmy Thomson and Sandy MacGregor Allen and Unwin ISBN: 9781760113544 Publication Date: 29th July 2015 RRP: $29.99 This is the powerful story of the Army engineers in Afghanistan – the sappers – and the war against the Taliban. They are the soldiers who are everywhere, and who do everything, from building schools to assisting the disadvantaged local Afghan people in rebuilding their lives as war … Continue reading Tunnel Rats vs the Taliban
Zellie Bullen with Freda Marnie Nicholls Allen and Unwin ISBN: 9781743311516 RRP: $22.99 Publication date: March 2015 Reviewed by Donna Clark This is an inspirational true story of Zellie Bullen, a young Australian woman who came from an underprivileged family who followed her dream to work with animals. She was deserted by her father when she was young, has faced more tragedy than the average … Continue reading Love, sweat and tears
Jim Haynes Allen and Unwin ISBN: 9781760113063 Publication date: August 2015 RRP: $22.99 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Looking for good dose of Aussie culture? Look no further than this excellent collection of Aussie yarns by Jim Haynes. Broken into sections such as Aussie Humour, Aussie Myths and Mysteries, Yarns From our Past and Racing Yarns there is something here for everyone. The introduction explains the … Continue reading The Best Australian Yarns: and other true stories
James Phelan Scholastic Australia ISBN: 9781742831930 RRP: $14.99 Reviewed by: William The book, The Last Thirteen: 4, is actually the 10th book in the popular series, with the tale beginning with The Last Thirteen: 13 and counting backwards. This series is written by Australian author James Phelan and has been popular for younger readers. In each book in the series, the main character, Sam, goes … Continue reading The last thirteen #4
David Warner Simon & Schuster Australia ISBN: 9781925030815 Publication Date: December, 2014 RRP: $14.99 Reviewed by William The Kaboom Kid: Playing Up is the second book in David Warner’s series for young readers who love cricket. The story focuses on little Davey Warner and his friend Sunil and their cricket adventures. In this second story, little Davey Warner loses ‘Kaboom’, his lucky cricket bat. He … Continue reading The Kaboom Kid: Playing Up
Stephen Petranek Simon & Schuster Australia ISBN: 9781471138881 RRP: $16.99 Publication date: July, 2015 Reviewed by: Debbie Berger How We’ll Live On Mars is a concise little book that covers many aspects of the race to inhabit the Red Planet within 20 years. How would we get water? How would we get there? What would we eat? Who will get there first? These, and many … Continue reading How we’ll live on Mars
Edited by Jon E Lewis Allen and Unwin ISBN: 9781472120182 Published: June, 2015 RRP: $19.99 Reviewed by Debbie Berger The Mammoth Book of Everest is everything you ever wanted to know about the many first attempts to climb Mt Everest, also known the roof of the world. There is tragedy, triumph and many exhilarating tales from the world’s most famous mountain spanning from the early … Continue reading The mammoth book of Everest
Lizzie Wilcock Scholastic Press ISBN: 9781742839660 RRP: $16.99 Published: May, 2015 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Karanda Hooke is a young, angry girl on her way to her sixth foster home in the Northern Territory when a fatal car accident occurs. This situation creates an opportunity to escape her terrible life of being rejected by every foster home she has ever been placed in. Solomon, the other foster … Continue reading Thirst
Michael Hyde Ford Street Publishing Pty Ltd ISBN: 9781925000993 Publication date: May 2015 RRP: $17.95 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Footy Dreaming tells the tale of two talented boys, Ben and Noah, and their dreams of playing AFL at the MGC. It is set in a Victorian town where the boys play in rival teams and where football is the way of life for everyone. When … Continue reading Footy dreaming
Eve Ainsworth Scholastic ISBN: 9781407146911 Published: February 2015 RRP: $15.95 Reviewed by Clare Horwood 7 Days is a compelling and disturbing story of bullying and abuse from two character’s perspectives: the bully and the victim. Spread over the course of seven days, the reader gets an insight into the lives of both characters: Kez (the bully) and Jess (the victim) who are equally unaware of each … Continue reading 7 days
Lisa Genova Simon and Schuster Australia ISBN: 9781471142901 $29.99 Published April 2015 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Inside the O’Briens is a powerful story about the Huntington’s Disease, a debilitating and fatal neurogenetic disease. Joe O’Brien is a 44 year old Boston cop who has seen it all on the force, including the Boston Marathon bombing. When he hurts his knee and innocently visits his doctor … Continue reading Inside the O’Briens
Holly Goldberg Sloan Scholastic Australia ISBN: 9781760152888 Published: April 2015 RRP: $16.99 Reviewed by Debbie Berger Emily comes from a loving family. Sam and his younger brother Riddle definitely do not. Destiny has them meet each other but eventually a series of terrible events tear them apart. Will destiny bring them back together? Emily Bell is singing in her local church choir when by a … Continue reading I’ll be there
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